Tips on working with bamboo?

[Mischa Machius]

Hi, I just got a bunch of 1" thick bamboo treads and 5/8" thick risers and intend to turn them into basic office furniture (bookshelves, bookcases, file pedestal, general cabinet).

I am intending to use pocket screws to help glue up larger panels as well as for general joinery. In addition, I was planning on using dados for bookshelves and other situations where pocket holes cannot be concealed.

There is rather little information out there on working with bamboo, so I wanted to ask for any tips and tricks.

What I seemed to have learned so far is that bamboo is very hard on cutting tools and it is quite prone to splitting. I assume that horizontal bamboo is less prone to catastrophic splitting than vertical bamboo. Also, for pocket holes, it seems bamboo should be treated like hardwood, i.e., screws with fine threads should be used.

I'd appreciate any other information and experiences with this type of "wood".

Many thanks in advance!

[Ken Darga]

Here's some sources of info to start

http://www.ehow.com/how_5074741_work-bamboo.html

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/monocots/bamboo/

http://www.woodistry.com/articles/BambooPlywood.htm

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/27432/how-to-use-bamboo-for-fin...

http://blog.woodshopnews.com/tbaw/?p=32

http://www.plyboo.com/sites/all/files/downloads/working_with_plyboo...

[Mischa Machius]

Thanks. I had seen all that material (except for the first one, which mostly deals with building with bamboo poles as far as I can tell). However, there is very little info about pocket holes, which is what I am mostly after.  

Ken Darga said:

Here's some sources of info to start

http://www.ehow.com/how_5074741_work-bamboo.html

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/monocots/bamboo/

http://www.woodistry.com/articles/BambooPlywood.htm

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/27432/how-to-use-bamboo-for-fin...

http://blog.woodshopnews.com/tbaw/?p=32

http://www.plyboo.com/sites/all/files/downloads/working_with_plyboo...